...oh excuse me, I was saying...uh
Well, so I took my pill early in the day. Pain over by mid-afternoon. Good. Still, I am worn out and stupid on a migraine day, long after the pain itself is gone. I cancel all appointments/plans. I cut out every unnecessary errand. But there is one, one, one that HAS to happen.
So I am standing in the aisle at Ralph's in Hastings Ranch (because I have already been to two other stores and cannot find small paper cups for hot drinks) and I'm looking at styrofoam cups. I don't want styrofoam cups. They come in a package of 50. I will be serving warm apple cider to about 12 little children and no one has kid-size hot drink cups. I have the aisle all to myself and I'm swearing at the styrofoam.
Some country-pop singer is wailing out a Christmas song on the intercom. Not a traditional Christmas song but a brand new one, made up fresh this year, probably by some junior high school kid hopped up on sugar and romance, and it's so saccharine and sappy and awful and they are blasting it. They always blast the music at that Ralph's, I can never get out of there fast enough because the music is so loud even when they play non-Christmas music, but this time the music is loud and crappy and I have to buy this huge honking bag of #$@&ing styrofoam.
I can't find the kind of cookies I want and I'm afraid to ask because if I do I won't be able to keep from either shouting or sobbing. They'll think I'm as insane as my doctor is, so I just buy the styrofoam and leave.
I make it home. When John gets home he looks at me and says, "Early to bed for some people."
I (almost) wish the problem was coffee. At least then migraines would be under my control and I would schedule them on more convenient days.
In cheerier news: Laurie Barlow won the final installment of the PDP/PPM Books Contest when her name was drawn from among the correct answers to the question, "Who is my favorite dog?" It is Boz indeed. Laurie wins a copy of At Home Pasadena, courtesy of Prospect Park Media.
I've enjoyed the contest and I hope you have, too. Thanks, Prospect Park Media and thanks to all who entered!
28 comments:
Poor Petrea. I do hope you have woken up to a better day now.
I hope your day is better and migrane free. Do you get in the fetal position and cover your head? So sorry that you had to go out on a migrane day!
Feel better,
G
Oh, beans!
We've talked about this, but for others, my experience is that migraine's can be caused by caffeine, but also I believe allergies to other foods, and sometimes pure stress. One time I looked in the back of a health-food book at the list of foods that are believed to cause migraines. I think the only thing missing was water. In recent years I've suspected green peppers, so I avoid them. Also, lots of things if I overdo them... like 5 oranges a day, or a whole 8-ounce bag of cashews. My godsend is Midrin - I carry it with me at all times. If I take it within a few minutes of a sign of migraine, it knocks it out.
Oh sure, much better, thanks. I don't get into the fetal position but maybe I ought to. Sometimes I take a nap and cover my eyes but I didn't yesterday.
Earl, what's Midrin?
I feel your pain, but you still made me laugh.
Hot apple cider reminds me of a friend, newly arrived from England, who gave the 5 year olds at her kid's birthday party apple cider and wondered why they started acting drunk. Back in the old world, the alco and non-alco apple juices have different names.
MG sufferers all wish the answer to their problem was simply coffee or caffeine!
But, you're not an elevator or supermarket music listener, PDP. Stay away from those places.
You write like you're more of a coffee shop music appreciator.
-Wearing my Psychic Hat
Midrin is the brand name for the now-generic capsule consisting of a combination of isometheptene mucate, dichloralphenazone, and acetaminophen that is used to relieve migraine and tension headaches. It prevents blood vessels in your head from expanding. As it was explained to me, it's tylenol and a vaso-constrictor.
Luckily, I get a visual warning of a migraine. I always keep Midrin with me on my keychain. Whenever I get the visual warning, I pop two capsules and the migraine either never materializes or it's about 1/10 of what it would have been.
I'm glad I made you laugh, Bellis. John and I laughed so hard when I told him this story.
I hope I bought the right cider.
Cafe, you are sooo right.
I don't get a visual warning, Earl, but I get a feeling. It's like the left side of my head is heavier than the right. I know what's about to happen.
Eeesh. That photo looks like a migraine feels.
It's a strong woman who can complete an errand on migraine days. I've had them since age 7 and somewhere around age 50, they just stopped happening. I still get the auras and numbness, but the headache is very minor and only lasts about 20 minutes. Before, when they were 8 hours ordeals of pain, light sensitivity and nausea, chocolate and pork and caffeine were some of my triggers. Pork and chocolate I could give up, but caffein, NOOOOOOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYYYYY.
That's caffeine in coffee of course.
I'm amazed you had the energy to describe a migraine so accurately.
I hear ya! There's a reason I buy so much stuff on Amazon. Like shampoo. It's strange that with 50 different brand of cereal in supermarket isle, I still have to go to to three different places to find everything I want. And why can't I find frozen cherries anywhere?
Going to any store in the month of December is a torture. I don't like Christmas period, with a few exceptions, but listening to sappier versions of already sappy holiday classics makes me homicidal.
Try popping a couple Midrin. It just may work for you.
Dear Petrea,
1) I SO sympathize about the migraine.
2) I call the "worn out and stupid" experience that happens after the migraine headache pain "migraine hangover." I'm never sure whether it is caused by the migraine itself, the medicine I have to take for it, or a combination of the two.
3) The neurologist/headache specialist I saw for some time actually advised me TO drink caffeine to manage the migraine saga.
4) Your photo honestly manages to capture a piece of what one feels during or after dealing with a migraine. The black and white element and the angle are perfect!
5) I'm grateful that you are feeling better.
I'm so sorry about the migraine. It sounds awful. I guess a screaming ohm doesn't work?
Enjoyed your post.
I've heard magnesium supplements may help migraine. But you probably already know that. I don't know if it works from first-hand experience. I just get plain old headaches this time of year.
Santa
BaysideLife:
I feel for you. My friend Michael (of pie-night fame) had to give up caffeine because of migraines. If he had to give up pork, too, it would be the end of him.
I've also heard magneseum is a good supplement. I am so sorry. I have a sore back. Maybe we should get together and moan.
Bummer about your migraine yesterday; glad to hear it was mostly gone by the afternoon. I'm very lucky I don't get them, but if I was stuck for too long in a place that played music sung by a "junior high school kid hopped up on sugar and romance" (classic description!) I'd probably start suffering too.
Such lovely and helpful comments, thank you! I'm much better today and have been out exploring and taking photos. It's as warm as summer.
I almost did scream "ohm"! I knew I had to get out of there. Vanda, I used to love Christmas but the merchandising of it has made it so ugly. I'm sorry you never got to see American Christmas in its more innocent days.
The word on caffeine and migraines is that caffeine is implicated in migraines. I try to limit my caffeine, and if I overdo it, I sometimes get a migraine.
Ironically, once a migraine starts, caffeine counteracts it. There are scientific reasons for this, but I'm not sure what they are.
Also, my experience is that migraine is a process involving both the head and the digestive system. Whether it's triggered by a reaction in the digestive system to some food, or whether it's triggered first by the expansion of a blood vessel in the brain, I'm not sure. Also, the day after a bad migraine one of the muscles in my neck will be tight and sore, and I will feel like I've been through a wringer.
I listen with love to my body's messages
My body is always working toward optimum health. My body wants to be Whole and Healthy, I cooperate and become healthy, whole and complete.
Before this post, i'd have said, "What's a migraine?" I only get sinus headaches in the winter or, the worst ones --from caffeine withdrawal! ARGH! But nothing like auras with hangovers.
wv: mintify. Candy canes everywhere!
Thanks for the affirmations, pa. Very nice.
Speedway, good idea. I'll mintify.
Earl, I've read a lot (a LOT) of literature about migraines. What it comes down to is that it's different for everybody, there are few patterns, and science still knows very little. One thing I'm coming to discover is that I know more than my doctor does about my own migraine.
I'm sure you are all better by now, but cripes - what a day. :(
On a plus though, I've never seen a grocery aisle look so attractive!
It would be easier, Amy, at least on migraine days, if they were all in black and white.
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